"Free" White Pass Excursion from HAL

[PACD_JG]

I asked this in the HAL forum 36 hours and never received a reply, so I'll try here.

 

About 70 days out, so I decided to call HAL because my booking included two White Pass Excursions.  Since I'm traveling with my kids, I wanted to know what time my train was so I could book their excursions with the $100 credit as part as the Have It All Package.  Anyway, I was told they won't assign our train boarding times until we get on the ship, and to just buy the additional trips now for anytime and they would just change it to the same time when we get ours.  This didn't pass the smell test.  One - don't these trains sell out?  According to cruisemapper - there's going to be a whopping four ships in port that day.  Also - why can't I book on wpyr.com for the date that we'll be there?

[Alphen]

8 minutes ago, PACD_JG said:

I asked this in the HAL forum 36 hours and never received a reply, so I'll try here.

 

About 70 days out, so I decided to call HAL because my booking included two White Pass Excursions.  Since I'm traveling with my kids, I wanted to know what time my train was so I could book their excursions with the $100 credit as part as the Have It All Package.  Anyway, I was told they won't assign our train boarding times until we get on the ship, and to just buy the additional trips now for anytime and they would just change it to the same time when we get ours.  This didn't pass the smell test.  One - don't these trains sell out?  According to cruisemapper - there's going to be a whopping four ships in port that day.  Also - why can't I book on wpyr.com for the date that we'll be there?

You can book the rail from your own HAL account, there will be more than one time slot available, if it is the same as our booking, which shows in our case, three times to book; 09:00, 01:00 and 05:00.

 

Since many combinations with the rail will be cancelled because the WPYR only does the ride to the summit and back, there will be a lot of interest for the ones that are available.

 

The reason you can't book directly with the WPYR is simply noted on their website;

 

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by Alphen

[jerseygirl629]

I don’t think being on a cruise has any effect on being able to book directly on their website. I think because SO many people’s excursions were canceled, everyone was scrambling to rebook. I had the issue where I couldn’t book a 1pm time slot or 12pm time slot (my ship docks at 11am), through WPYR directly, my cruise line wouldn’t let me book through them, and Chilkoot (who I had initially booked my train and bus through) didn’t have any times - so I ended up using another company and was able to successfully get in via AlaskaShoreExcursions.com on a 12pm for my date. 

[Coral]

I can't answer your question - I do want to ask how old your kids are?

 

I know on the longer train rides (that are now cancelled) - this excursion is pretty boring for kids. Heck, I see senior citizens fall asleep on the way back.

 

I don't know with the tours being shorter - if that will help but if the kids are young, I would probably suggest booking something else.

[JT1962]

56 minutes ago, PACD_JG said:

I asked this in the HAL forum 36 hours and never received a reply, so Also - why can't I book on wpyr.com for the date that we'll be there?

Make sure to check multiple times on the date you need. The default time on the website is the earliest time which may be full or not even available on the date you are there. There is not any restriction to keep you from booking directly that I have seen.

[PACD_JG]

Thanks to all who replied.  I called HAL again to hopefully get more information, and today's person was much more helpful. 

 

Hopefully, this could help others.

 

The free excursions won't know the time of their booking - whether 0900, 1300, or 1600, until they board the ship.

 

You can't use guests one's and two's shore excursion credits to book guests three's and four's trip.  I didn't understand that since money is money, but that's HAL's rules and since the tickets would require names...

 

HAL is allotted a fair number of tickets by WPYR for that day, and as of today there are over 500 available slots.  I thought about buying the extra tickets today, and you can for any of those time slots, but that wouldn't guarantee that guests one and two would get the same times.  If you don't, you would have to go to the ship desk so everybody's on at the same time.  HAL then mentioned it's highly unlikely they would sell out so I might just want to wait until we board, I get the times and tickets for guests one and two, and then go buy for guests three and four.  Since I'm cynical, I'll probably call them in a month.

[PACD_JG]

Kids are 15 and 14.  They may well be bored, but mom won't leave them on the ship alone while we go play tourist (it's our first cruise).  In case it wasn't clear, the wife and I got free White Pass excursions, so we're definitely going.

Edited April 15, 2022 by PACD_JG

[Essiesmom]

Just from my experience, I would not book the earliest one as it can be foggy in the morning.  EM

[donaldsc]

On 4/15/2022 at 3:46 PM, PACD_JG said:

Kids are 15 and 14.  They may well be bored, but mom won't leave them on the ship alone while we go play tourist (it's our first cruise).  In case it wasn't clear, the wife and I got free White Pass excursions, so we're definitely going.

 

Assuming that the kids are basically good kids I can't see what the problem is with 14 and 15 year old kids on the ship.  What sort of trouble can they get into.  Are you going to keep them by your side all the time on the ship for the rest of the cruise.  When we took our 10 and 13 year old grandkids on an AK cruise, we let them wander around the ship alone as long as they stayed together.  Many kids aged 14 and 15 are mature and trustworthy.

 

DON

[Coral]

On 4/15/2022 at 4:46 PM, PACD_JG said:

Kids are 15 and 14.  They may well be bored, but mom won't leave them on the ship alone while we go play tourist (it's our first cruise).  In case it wasn't clear, the wife and I got free White Pass excursions, so we're definitely going.

That is probably good. I would be more worried if they were younger about being bored. If they are 14 and 15 - they would at least understand the history and may later appreciate it. 🙂 

Edited April 17, 2022 by Coral